Prue's Passing
by Charmed-Triquetra
Summary: What happened between All Hell Breaks Loose and Charmed Again? This is the fic to found out from.
1. Piper's Gone

**Part One  
**  
Leo orbed into the Underworld, his heart filled with more pain than he could possibly  
  
imagined existed. Piper, his wife, his _soul mate_ was dead. The moment he saw Prue's  
  
face in the hospital, he feared the worst- that the Source had been telling the truth- and it  
  
was justified when he saw Piper lying motionless on the hospital bed. Her shirt had been  
  
opened, and blood had been gushing out of her stomach. Being a medic in WW2, he  
  
knew that she had been shot in such a place that she would not have survived it, no matter  
  
how much medicine had been involved.  
  
_'If I had just warned Phoebe and Cole, and orbed back up there, she would still be alive.'_  
  
Leo thought. Still alive. Piper was dead. Tears began to roll down his cheeks again, and  
  
Leo knew that they would never stop.  
  
Phoebe saw the blue lights from the corner of her eye, and she and Cole turned to face  
  
Leo. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face showed various levels of grief and pain. The  
  
kind of pain someone would feel if their soul mate was dead.  
  
"Piper." Phoebe said, her voice already starting to choke with tears. Leo's eyes were  
  
starting to fill with tears again, and Phoebe hugged him, hoping to soothe both of their  
  
pain. Piper was dead, and Prue was probably grieving more than Phoebe was, probably  
  
with the SWAT team just outside. What if she lost Prue too? The pain was unbearable.  
  
She'd rather be evil than have one of her sister's dead. Leo broke their embrace,  
  
"You don't have to do this."  
  
"Yes, I do." Came Phoebe's reply. She looked at Cole, who had doubt and concern all  
  
over his face.  
  
Although he hadn't known Piper for as long as Phoebe and Leo had, he still felt a lot of  
  
pain. Given that he didn't always get along with her, if it hadn't been for Piper, Phoebe  
  
would not have given him another chance. The idea of Piper being dead was  
  
unfathomable to him, let alone how awful Phoebe must be feeling. As soon as Leo had  
  
left to check on Prue and Piper, Phoebe had fallen to the floor and broken into tears. She  
  
cried as he held her, she grieved for both of her sisters. When she finally began to breathe  
  
evenly again, she had told Cole that she will cross over in order to save her sisters. Cole's  
  
heart stopped beating. He couldn't let his love do this- being evil was the most awful  
  
thing ever and, once you know how it feels to be good, you could never bring yourself to  
  
hurt an innocent. But he knew firsthand how family is more important than evil and,  
  
despite all of his protesting, Phoebe would never back down. Although he knew this  
  
meant that evil would not intervene in their relationship again, he also knew that the  
  
Power of Three would be destroyed, and he would never be able to set his father's soul  
  
free. Phoebe walked over to him,  
  
"So, will resetting time affect us down here?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good." Phoebe took a deep breath, still trying to digest the situation, "I only have one  
  
condition. You must warn Prue and Piper before the demonic hit man attacks. Otherwise,  
  
they're dead anyway."  
  
"Phoebe..."  
  
"Cole. I have to do this. I'm not going to let Piper stay dead, nor am I going to leave Prue  
  
to handle the media by herself. Go."  
  
Cole opened his mouth to say something but, resigned, turned and headed to the Source's  
  
chamber.  
  
"Leo, as soon as time has reset, you have to orb to the Manor. I doubt the Source will  
  
warn them."  
  
"I know," Leo replied, calming down a little, "But I'm more worried about you."  
  
"Don't worry, Leo. Cole will get me out of here."  
  
"What if he can't?"  
  
"He will. Don't worry."

Cole walked into the Source's chamber. Even though Cole was about to tell the Source  
  
that Phoebe's agreed, he had no intention of letting her stay here- even if it meant being  
  
killed himself.  
  
"Well?" The Source boomed. Cole came down to his knees.  
  
"She's agreed. But she wants her sisters to be warned before Shax attacks them."  
  
"Agreed." The Source stated. Cole stood up and bowed. He looked at the guard and  
  
walked out to join his love. He saw the guard walk over the Source, so he ducked behind  
  
a rock and stayed within earshot.  
  
"Once I have reset time, detain him. And then kill his witch. That way, I won't have to  
  
worry about Belthazor anymore. Or the Charmed Ones."  
  
Cole ran away as he sensed the guard standing up. He knew the Source wouldn't let  
  
Phoebe go free. He had to get her out of there. Now. 


	2. Attack and Pain

**Part Two**  
  
Phoebe leant on Leo as they tried to calm each other's pain and worry over Piper and  
  
Prue. Cole ran in, and Phoebe looked up,  
  
"Cole." She then noticed his face was more tear stained than before. She stood up,  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"As soon as time has been reset, I have to get you out of here. The source has ordered to  
  
have you killed." He turned to Leo, "Leo, the Source is not going to care about Prue and  
  
Piper, so you have to orb up to the Elders and wait until they need saving."  
  
Before Leo could reply, all three of them felt really dizzy.  
  
"What's going on?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Time is being reset." Leo replied, "We don't have much time."  
  
The light headedness subsided, and Cole's chamber was stormed by demons and  
  
darklighters. One of Cole's superiors from the Brotherhood tackled him to the ground,  
  
and a Fury and a young Brute demon advanced on Phoebe. She quickly attacked them  
  
with a forceful roundhouse kick. The Fury flew backwards and hit Cole's athame. She  
  
screamed and disappeared in flames. The Brute was a lot harder to defeat.  
  
"Leo, go!" Phoebe shouted as she used all her strength to block all of the Brute's attacks.  
  
The darklighter conjured his crossbow and aimed at Leo, who was too shocked to orb out.  
  
"No!" Cole broke his right arm free and threw an energy ball at the darklighter, killing  
  
him. "Leo, get out of here now!"  
  
Leo came to his senses and orbed out. Cole threw his attacker off of him and stabbed him  
  
with his athame, killing him. He rushed to Phoebe's side and helped her subdue the  
  
Brute. As Cole conjured a large energy ball, the Brute ran off.  
  
"He'll be back with reinforcements," Cole said breathlessly, "We've got to go, now." He  
  
grabbed Phoebe's hand and they shimmered out.  
  
Leo orbed into the Manor. The first thing he noticed was Prue and Piper, on the floor,  
  
fatally injured. He ran to them,  
  
"Oh God." He put his hands over both of them, like he did before and used his powers to  
  
full strength. Piper's wounds were not as serious as Prue's and she healed quickly. Her  
  
eyes fluttered open,  
  
"Aaaaahhh... what happened?" she groaned, as she sat up.  
  
"You almost died, that's what happened." Leo answered, awaiting Prue's response of  
  
_'What else is new?'_, but it never came. He looked at her, still lying in a pool of blood.  
  
"Prue!" Piper looked over at her sister,  
  
"Oh my God. Leo, heal her now!"  
  
Leo put his hands over his sister-in-law's head wound and focussed all his power on her.  
  
She was barely breathing, and her pulse was extremely weak. If he hadn't been drained  
  
from healing Piper's wounds, he would have been able to heal Prue completely. A feeling  
  
of dread overcame him, as the truth settled. Prue was going to die, and he couldn't do  
  
anything to help. Prue exhaled for the last time and her heart stopped. The blood coming  
  
from the back of her head stopped moving.  
  
"Leo? Why isn't it working?" Piper's voice was shrill will panic.  
  
"Oh my God. She's gone." Leo murmured.  
  
"What? No!" Piper touched Prue's cold skin, "Prue? Prue! Wake up!" Piper started to  
  
cry, the horrible truth hitting her. Leo had arrived too late. They had lost their innocent.  
  
And Prue was dead. 


	3. Explaining

**Part Three**  
  
Cole and Phoebe reappeared in the mausoleum. Phoebe looked at Cole in disbelief.  
  
"The mausoleum? Why are we here? My sisters are in danger-"  
  
"So are we." Cole interrupted, "If we went to the Manor, we'd be attacked there. If your  
  
sisters are weak still, you'll be sitting ducks. We'll have to walk to the Manor."  
  
"Okay." Phoebe said, turning, "But we have to hurry." They ran out of the mausoleum  
  
and ran up the stairs.

"No, no, no, this isn't happening. This is not happening."  
  
"Piper, calm down." Piper whirled to face Leo.  
  
"Calm down? CALM DOWN? We lost an innocent, my _sister_ is _dead_, and you  
  
want me to _calm down_?!" Piper threw out her hands and blew up a nearby window. She  
  
stared at it for a couple of seconds before falling to the ground next to Prue's lifeless  
  
body, which was now moved into the sunroom. She held her sister in her arms and  
  
sobbed into her hair.  
  
"Piper? Prue? Leo?" Phoebe's voice shouted out. When Piper didn't lift her head, Leo  
  
called out,  
  
"We're in the sunroom." Phoebe and Cole ran into the sunroom. Cole turned to Leo,  
  
"Is everything-" he was cut off when Phoebe saw her sisters,  
  
"Prue!" She crouched down in front of Piper, with tears in her eyes. She looked up at  
  
Leo, who answered her silent question with a grim face. Cole covered his mouth in  
  
shock.  
  
"No!" Phoebe cried, with tears streaming down her face like a harsh rain. Piper looked at  
  
her, with Prue's dried blood clinging to her face. Her eyes were like fire,  
  
"Where were you?" Anger built up inside of her when she saw Cole standing next to Leo,  
  
"You risked our lives to go get your _boyfriend_? Are you insane? Prue is _dead_! And she  
  
wouldn't have been if you had been here to say the damn spell!"  
  
Phoebe fell back in shock. How could Piper say that? Cole had a mixture of pain and fury  
  
on his face. Leo, noticing this, put his arm in front of Cole to stop him from advancing.  
  
He looked at Piper,  
  
"Piper!" he said in dismay and surprise, "You can't mean that?" Piper held Prue closer to  
  
her chest and shut her eyes tightly,  
  
"Why?!" She half shouted. When she opened her eyes and saw the look on her sister's  
  
face, her tone softened, "I don't mean it, Phoebe. I'm sorry." She looked up at Cole again  
  
and her sudden anger was remembered,  
  
"How could you leave? At a time like that? We lost our innocent- _we lost Prue_!"  
  
"It's not as simple as that Piper." Cole started, but Leo interrupted,  
  
"Wait, you don't remember?"  
  
"_Remember what_?" Piper demanded. Phoebe put her hand on Piper's arm, but not  
  
trusting herself to touch Prue. She took a deep breath,  
  
"Piper. This day has happened once before. Last time, I fended Shax off, and Leo healed  
  
both of you. You and Prue went out into the street and Shax attacked you."  
  
"You blew him up." Leo continued, "But what you guys didn't know is that you were  
  
filmed by a new station. You were exposed... and things escalated to when you were shot  
  
and killed." Leo's eyes started to cloud with tears with the memory, so Cole resumed,  
  
"Leo was in the Underworld with me and Phoebe, and had asked me to ask the Source to  
  
reverse time. He said that he would if Phoebe crossed over, became evil. That's when he  
  
told me that you or Prue was going to die. By the time Leo orbed up, it was too late."  
  
"So I decided to agree." Phoebe added, "When the Source agreed to my terms, he waited  
  
until Cole was gone before ordering my death. Cole overheard and we got out of there  
  
before we were killed." Leo knelt by his wife,  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't get here in time. I only had enough power to save one of you. I didn't  
  
realise that until it was too late. I'm so sorry."  
  
Piper stared at Phoebe; both sisters had tears rolling down their cheeks. No matter how  
  
unbelievable the story sounded, she knew that Leo and Phoebe would not have lied to her  
  
like that. It suddenly occurred to her that there'd be Zotars after Cole. The idea seemed to  
  
occur to Cole at the same time,  
  
"I better go. We can't have any bounty hunters coming here." Before Phoebe could  
  
object, Cole shimmered out. Phoebe and Piper burst into full flood at the same time, and  
  
Leo began to cry himself. All of them held each other, and Prue, and sobbed. 


	4. Prue

_A/N- I know, it's been a very long time. However, a combination of procrastination and an empty Ruby Gloom notebook have inspired me to write another chapter. Hopefully this will be as popular as my last two chapters…_

**Part Four**

Prue sat up and looked around the sunroom, registering her surroundings. Something was not right. The Manor seemed completely empty; not only devoid of anyone who should have been in the house at that point, but all the furniture and general clutter was missing too.

And everything seemed so… dull. Normally the sunroom was drenched in the sunlight that filtered through their stained glass panels on the windows, but right now the house seemed almost grey.

She massaged the back of her head, trying to soothe the dull ache that pounded in the centre of her skull. She could barely remember what had happened. She remembered Shax and Dr. Griffiths… but that was about it.

Where were her sisters? And their innocent? Were they alright?

"Piper?" she yelled, hoping someone would hear her, "Phoebe? Leo?"

But no one answered. Not her sisters, not her whitelighter/brother-in-law. Not even a random stranger.

She looked at her surroundings again and started to panic.

'_Oh God'_ she thought, _'Where am I?'_

"Prue."

She turned around upon hearing her name and nearly sank to her knees when she saw the source.

"Mum?" Prue wanted to say more. She wanted to ask out loud the many questions in her mind: where was she? Where were her sisters? What was she doing here? What was wrong with the house?

But she was speechless. She was so stunned that she could not make a single utterance.

However, as any mother should be able to do, Patty Halliwell could tell what was on her daughter's mind and walked over to her.

"Sweetie," she said softly, "What was the last thing you remember?"

Prue was silent for a moment as she recollected her thoughts and replayed recent events in her head.

"There was a demon…" Prue replied hesitantly, still not sure what was happening. If it was even happened, "He fired at our innocent and I pushed him out of the way. Then I flew backwards. That's all I remember. What's going on?"

"Prudence," Patty maintained a gentle tone of voice, which only served to make Prue panic a little bit more, "You were hit by one of Shax's bolts and you were thrown through a wall. You were seriously injured… Leo didn't get to you in time." Patty's voice broke slightly and she finished her sentence in a whisper, "I'm sorry."

Prue knew what her mother was trying to say, but she didn't want to process it. She looked down, away from her mother's eye contact. It was then that she realised that Patty was holding Prue's hands in her own. The only way she could do that would be if she were corporeal, like Prue. Except Patty was quite obviously a spirit.

"Oh God." Prue tore out of her mother's grip and backed away.

'_I'm dead. I died.'_ The words floated around in Prue's head; haunting her but never actually sinking in. She started to pace, and anger started to build up inside of her like molten rock inside a volcano. Anger… and fear and denial.

"No!" she yelled out abruptly, startling her mother, who had been watching her with concern. Prue turned to her mother,

"I can't be dead. I mean, I'm a Charmed One. I'm the _first born_ Charmed One! How can one demon defeat me? One measly, grey, stupid demon!"

"Sweetie, I know how you feel." Patty attempted to soothe her daughter, "When I was killed by the water demon…"

Patty's voice faded away as Prue suddenly flashed back to when she and her sisters fought that same demon, barely a year before.

'_Every single day, I feel like I'm becoming more and more like her and everyday it terrifies me.'_ She remembered saying to her sisters, _'now because of this being Charmed thing, the very real possibility of dying young, it's like history is repeating itself.'_ Prue shook her head furiously,

"No, don't give me that!" She blurted out, interrupting her mother, "Don't say you know how I feel, because you don't. I am nothing like you! I won't die and leave my family!"

Although she knew that she should be hurt by Prue's words, Patty decided to disregard it as a result of Prue being in shock. She continued to try and soothe her daughter,

"Prue, try to calm down."

"No, I won't calm down!" Prue yelled, slightly ashamed at how childish she sounded, "You will send me back right now- I am not dead and I am not going to leave my sisters!"

"What's going on?" Prue jumped at the sound of a quaky male voice behind her. She turned around slowly and saw Dr. Griffiths standing by one of the windows. Her heart jumped and her knees felt slightly weaker.

He was a spirit. Shax killed him. Which meant she and her sisters failed. She failed. She had risked her life and her innocent had still died at the hands of a demon.

She wanted to talk to him, tell him how sorry she was that she couldn't save him, but no words came from her mouth. He stared back at her, also speechless and confused about what was happening to him.

A bright light appeared a few feet away from the doctor, who turned and watched it open into a tunnel of inviting blue light. Instinctively, yet still slightly scared, he took steps towards it.

"Dr. Griffiths, no!" Prue yelled in attempt to keep her innocent from moving on. Maybe she could still save him, "Fight it!"

Her calls were in vain, as the light consumed the doctor and took him to the next stage of the afterlife. Prue watched the light disappear,

"Oh my God." Prue uttered for, what felt like, the hundredth time in the last half hour, "I _am_ dead." She finally let her mother hold her, now in tears. Patty stroked her daughter's hair soothingly,

"Prue, it's time to go." Realising what her mother meant, Prue shook her head,

"No. I have to talk to my sisters. I need them to know that I'm okay."

"You can't." Patty replied apologetically, "They need to move on, and seeing you will only prevent them from doing so."

Too defeated to argue, Prue sniffed and wiped away a lone tear,

"Can I at least see them?"

Patty was silent for a moment, and then finally nodded. She held Prue's hand and closed her eyes, concentrating on allowing them to cross over without becoming visible to the living world.

The Manor started to fill with natural light and take on the form that Prue remembered- including the half finished cup of coffee that she had left on the table that morning after Phoebe had told her and Piper about her premonition of Shax.

Prue heard sounds of crying and looked towards the conservatory to see who was there. She saw Piper and Phoebe weeping over her lifeless body while Leo, Cole and Darryl sat on the bench on the other side of the room, all of whom had been crying. Darryl got up and started pacing, trying very hard to keep it together and keep strong for the sisters. Silently, he signalled towards the doorway.

Prue looked in the direction that Darryl was pointing and saw two police officers carrying a body bag out of the house with Dr. Griffiths inside.

As another officer put Prue in a body bag, her sisters ran into the arms of their loves, unable to watch. Leo buried his face in Piper's hair and cried with her, while Cole wrapped a blanket over Phoebe's shuddering shoulders and stroked her hair as she wept into his chest. With numb, bloodshot eyes, he watched Prue's body being carried away while Darryl filled in a report while fighting hard to prevent the tears from falling.

"I know it hurts." Patty said from behind Prue, "But, for now, you have to let them go. Allow them to move on, to continue with their Charmed destiny."

"Charmed destiny?" Prue repeated in question and wiped away another tear, "But the Power of Three is broken. We're not the Charmed Ones anymore."

Prue watched her mother and saw a strange look in her eyes. She looked almost… guilty.

"What is it?" Prue asked suspiciously. Patty looked as though she was sensing to see if anyone was listening. When she was certain that no one was, she prepared herself to tell a secret that she hadn't voiced in nearly 25 years.

"The Power of Three can be reconstituted." She admitted, "I didn't tell you or your sisters this in case the Elders found out and the whole family got into trouble."

"Tell us what?" Prue prompted her mother to keep going.

"My relationship with Sam… it was a lot more serious that either of us let on…" Patty trailed off, leaving Prue to connect the dots.

"You had a child with him?" Prue cried in disbelief. How could Patty have another baby and hide it from her, Piper and Phoebe? Patty nodded,

"Another girl. Your Grams and I were worried and you and your sisters would be punished. That you would be denied your powers or that the new baby would be taken away." Patty took a moment to collect herself again and continued to explain to a shocked Prue, "Sam and I decided to give her up for adoption. We asked a nun from a local church to find her a good home."

"What's her name?" Prue asked, suddenly feeling an overwhelming grief for the sister she'll never know.

"Paige Matthews. She lives in San Francisco, so it shouldn't be too long before Piper and Phoebe find her."

"Paige." Prue repeated the name softly. Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwell. The family that should have been. If she had known about Paige, she would have made every effort to track her down. Which is probably why she and her sisters were never told. Knowing Prue, she would have asked Darryl to use his contacts in Missing Persons to find Paige. Or Andy, had he not been killed at the hands of a demon two years ago.

Prue suddenly felt a glimmer of joy when she realised that she may get to see Andy again. She selfishly hoped that he hadn't been made a whitelighter or been reincarnated. Once again, Patty read her daughter's mind,

"Andy is still here. I'm sure he'd love to talk to you again." Patty said gently. Prue allowed this confirmation to create the grin of a teenage girl with a crush on her face.

"Can I see him?"

"Take my hand." Patty held out her hand as a portal opened before them. Prue turned around and took one last look at the people she cared about.

"Be safe." She whispered, "I love you."

Then she stepped into the light, holding her mother's hand.


End file.
